"This
much we know: Mrs. Clinton and most of her senior associates utilizing
the e-mail system were cleared for the most sensitive information
produced and retained by the U.S. government. They had routine access
to the full range of intelligence data, up to the TS-SCI level, and a
number of SAR/SAP programs as well. If you want to discuss that
information--without the hassle of creating and utilizing e-mail
accounts on SIPRNET or JWICS, just pull bits of material and put them
into an unclassified e-mail and send them over an unsecure network.
It's a fair bet that most (if not all) of her e-mails are in the hands
of virtually any country with a national signals intelligence (SIGINT)
capability."

All
the more reason for the FBI to continue a criminal probe. Mishandling
classified information is a crime (just ask General David Petraeus).
But the Clinton e-mail system went far beyond sharing hard-copy files
with a mistress/biographer, and storing them outside a secure facility.
By entering classified material into an unsecure e-mail system, the
former Secretary of State and her associates likely exposed a wide range
of classified material to intercept and collection by our enemies.

Ignore
the spin. This is not a matter of ensuring that classified material
was secure; it's a question of who deliberately placed sensitive data on
a non-secure network and engaged in that practice on a recurring
basis. But determining guilt may be more difficult that you'd think.
Unless there was a system administrator moving classified documents from
State Department systems to the Clinton server, investigators may be
compelled to compare original intel documents with the e-mails,
line-by-line and word-for-word.

While Mrs. Clinton continues her quest for the presidency, inspectors general from the various intelligence agencies (along with a phalanx of FBI agents) have quietly expanded their investigation of her e-mail network. And the latest finding is one of the most damning. As Fox News reported earlier today:

Hillary Clinton's emails on her unsecured, homebrew server contained
intelligence from the U.S. government's most secretive and highly
classified programs, according to an unclassified letter from a top
inspector general to senior lawmakers.

Fox News exclusively obtained the unclassified
letter, sent Jan. 14 from Intelligence Community Inspector General I.
Charles McCullough III. It laid out the findings of a recent
comprehensive review by intelligence agencies that identified "several
dozen" additional classified emails -- including specific intelligence
known as "special access programs" (SAP).

That indicates a level of classification beyond even
“top secret,” the label previously given to two emails found on her
server, and brings even more scrutiny to the presidential candidate’s
handling of the government’s closely held secrets.

According to Mr. McCullough, two sworn declarations from one intelligence community element "cover several dozen emails [from Clinton's server] containing classified information determined
by the IC element to be at the confidential, secret, and top secret/sap
levels." McCullough offered that revelation in an unclassified letter to leadership of the House and Senate intelligence committees and leaders
of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, as well as the Office of the
Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) and State Department inspector
general.

Spokesmen for the intelligence community declined comment on the Fox report.

As their name implies, SAP programs are highly restricted. Individuals must be "read into" the program when it is determined they have a valid "need-to-know." Many relate to the most sensitive collection efforts in the intelligence community, based on extremely well-placed sources and/or intelligence methods that--if revealed--would cause exceptionally grave damage to our intel efforts.

Like most who worked in the spook business, your humble correspondent was read into a few SAP programs in his day. Because I'm still honoring my non-disclosure agreement (unlike a former cabinet member we know), I won't go into details about them. But to give you some idea of the security involved, reviewing information gathered under one SAP effort meant going to a special vault, inside a Sensitive Compartmented Intelligence Facility (SCIF), and logging onto computer terminals reserved for that particular program. If you weren't cleared for the program, you didn't get in--even if you had a TS/SCI clearance.

In some cases, only a handful of people may be approved for a special access program. Some of those are restricted to the most senior members of the U.S. government--the type of collection efforts a Secretary of State would have knowledge of. At this point, we don't know what type of SAP information was found on Mrs. Clinton's server, but obviously, it represents a security breach of the first magnitude--and it's a sure bet that hostile SIGINT services accessed that information.

It's the type of material that gets people killed. Literally. It's one reason the Army is considering a demotion of retired General David Petraeus. Turns out that he shared SAP information with his biographer and former mistress, Paula Broadwell. Neither Petraeus nor Broadwell was ever accused of sharing that info over an unclassified e-mail system. But Petraeus may lose a star and be forced to repay hundreds of thousands of dollars in retirement pay--the difference in the pension of check of a four-star, versus a Lieutenant General.

Meanwhile, the Clinton campaign keeps chugging on. But the odds of her indictment just increased dramatically.

8 comments:

I'm wondering if the notion put forth that Petraeus may face more sanctions is a warning to Hillary. In a sense further action against Petraeus puts the Administration in a bind. It could be said that how could you move against him without moving against her?

This lady can hardly be mistaken for a person of honor, a stateswoman who values our national interests above her personal conveniences, or a CnC who would not sell out the lives of military men, women and secrets for enough $$$$. Other than that, she could be the epitome of fine, ambulance-chasing, foot-dragging lawyers, and based upon recent examples, winner of a Nobel Prize for Fictions.

She'll never be charged let alone convicted of anything, the fact that she has not only suffered zero blow back from what's already known she is able to continue running for president.Ultimately it'll likely cost her the campaign but if anyone takes a fall at all it will be those around her, and I think it's possible no one will suffer any consequences. If that seems far fetched just get in your way back machine and look at what she and Bill got a way with it the White House.

"Ultimately it'll likely cost her the campaign but if anyone takes a fall at all it will be those around her, and I think it's possible no one will suffer any consequences." - Jennifer

Agree, except that all of us will take a hit because failure to indict HRC will set an unfortunate legal precedent for government leaders who follow. How possibly can they ever be held accountable for equal or lesser transgressions after she escapes?Only by unfair applications of "prosecutorial discretions".

Note: I rejject the specious argument (perennially sourced to high-ranking government officials and their political lackies) that probability of conviction needs to be balanced against cost of prosecution FOR HIGH OFFICIALS. No expense should be spared to hold them accountable, in my opinion.

Jennifer--I can envision your scenario, especially with Loretta Lynch as A.G. The question is which minions will take the fall? They can't really expect the inner circle (Huma, Cheryl Mills) to take the rap, since they know too much. On the other hand, there are others (Hillary's IT guy, for example) who will soon get pushed in front of the subway train. He probably thought he was on easy street when Hillary offered him that GS-15 job at State. Soon, he'll be the same career trajectory of Webb Hubbell, i.e, "guess I've got to roll over again."